“Yes, I was, or I am.”
“He is wasting his time, sir. My mother is set against him and has been since they were children. She married another man. What more proof does the general need?”
“I can only say in his defense that the heart is a persevering organ. Not that I know. I’m as fickle as they come, so perhaps that is why I’m touched by his steadfastness. I knew your father.”
That statement brought out a reaction in her. She crossed her arms, sidled a step away.
Harry hurried to continue, “I say this because I want you to know that Monty does not share the same character as your sire. He truly loves your mother.”
“How can he?” Miss Maclean answered. “She is not very lovable.”
Harry felt his jaw drop at such a bald statement and caught it in time before he appeared a yokel. “I beg your pardon?”
“I’m being honest, Colonel. If you do value your friendship with the general, persuade him to avoid my mother at all costs.” She held up a gloved hand to stave off comments. “She can be very difficult. And although she is my parent, I rarely admire her. My conversation with Mr. Tolliver is because of my mother. She is attempting to make my sister’s life as miserable as her own has been. I know I sound like the most perverse of children, and perhaps I am.”
“I find you refreshingly candid,” Harry admitted and had to laugh. “I, too, had a mother that was not pleasant.”
“There is a wealth of meaning in that word ‘not pleasant,’ isn’t there?” she guessed.
“A wealth of misery. She was not a happy person.”
“Are any of us?” Miss Maclean asked, and thensighed. “I should guard my tongue. However, be a good friend to the general, Colonel. Warn him off Mother. She’s too selfish to consider anyone besides herself.”
She started to walk away, but Harry found he didn’t want her to leave just yet. He stopped her by being provocative, curious as to how her mind worked. There was a great deal of pride in this woman. “And what of you, Miss Maclean? What advice do you have for yourself?”
His words brought her to a halt. She turned. “What do you mean, sir?”
Harry closed the distance between them. “I mean no insult, but I can’t help but wonder if you should take your own advice. You obviously care for your mother because you’ve set aside your life for hers.”
Miss Maclean lifted her chin. “You are right. Youarebeing presumptuous.”
“It’s a fault of mine.”
A hard glint appeared in her eyes. “I wouldn’t brag on it, sir. ”
Miss Maclean wasn’t one to back down. He liked that.
At that moment, a great roar of approval sounded from inside the barn, carrying with it the name “Tolliver.”
Her manner changed. She went on alert and he was not important. “Excuse me,” she said, already moving toward the building, her hips swinging with feminine determination.
Harry followed her at a slower pace. He sensed a mystery about Miss Maclean. Prickly people usually were hiding something. But what wouldshehave to hide?
He found himself intrigued.
As Portia headed for the barn doors, she overheard the Maclean name being shouted. Tolliver and Maclean.What was going on?
She also had needed to escape Colonel Chattan. She preferred the man as the scowling horseman who had almost run her over. She hated the image of him as the kneeling supplicant before her, begging for a solution for his brother, or this other man, the one who was as direct as she was and who valued his friends enough to speak for them.
He was also uncommonly handsome. She found it hard to concentrate when he placed all his attention on her.
One of the reasons she’d been able to accept being a spinster was that she stayed away frommen like him. Men who made her pulse race a touch faster and who challenged her and who aroused her curiosity about them.
But she had yet to meet a man who actually seemed to understand her sacrifice for her family and that made him all the more threatening.
Mr. Longacre came out of the barn’s door. “You aren’t inside, Miss Maclean?” he said with his broad brogue. “Your sister has just accepted Mr. Tolliver’s request for marriage. Hurry up or you’ll miss it all.” He lowered his voice to add, “Lady Maclean has swooned. Some of the lads caught her but she isn’t right happy.”
Portia flew into the barn, where Minnie and Mr. Tolliver were standing in front of the assembly, beaming at each other with undisguised joy. Her sister had never radiated more beauty than she did in this moment beside her beloved.
